


Will You Join In Our Crusade?

by they_hear_the_music



Series: One Shot Series: Mad Max 'Verse [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Agender!Jehan, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Fluff, Found Family, Multi, Nonbinary Character, a bit of violence, mad max universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4771631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/they_hear_the_music/pseuds/they_hear_the_music
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This is Enjolras, by the way," Joly continued, jerking his head in the direction of the second face with piercing blue eyes, sunburned skin and blonde hair. "He's here to make sure you're not gonna pull a fast one on us, which I have assured him you will not since you're unlikely to get very far with that sunstroke of yours. Should I be wrong though be sure to know that the knife he's holding is not for show."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will You Join In Our Crusade?

**Author's Note:**

> has this been done yet?
> 
> For Marius/Courfeyrac week

The first thing Marius noticed when he woke was that there was sand stuck in his teeth. The second thing were the voices. Marius couldn't quite make out what they were saying through the slowly lifting fog clouding his mind, but he could make out that there were quite a few talking. And he heard laughter, a light and pleasant sound in all the buzzing noise of chatter.

He opened his eyes slowly, trying to blink away the dizziness.

"Oh I think he's waking up!" a voice said, significantly closer than the others.

Marius' eyes slowly focused on the face above his own. Wide brown eyes stared back at him, a nervous smile on the strangers lips. Then Marius' eyes went out of focus again.

"Hey there," The person above him said. "My name is Joly. We found you passed out a couple of hours ago, we're assuming because of a heat stroke going by the fact that you weren't wearing proper headwear and that your water reserves are still half full." He spoke slowly and Marius let his consciousness be guided by his voice, trying to fully gain control over his limp body again. His eyes started to focus once more, now seeing two faces. "This is Enjolras, by the way," Joly continued, jerking his head in the direction of the second face with piercing blue eyes, sunburned skin and blonde hair. "He's here to make sure you're not gonna pull a fast one on us, which I have assured him you will not since you're unlikely to get very far with that sunstroke of yours. Should I be wrong though be sure to know that the knife he's holding is not for show."

Marius was gonna have to take Joly's word for it, since he couldn't even see a knife. He tried to turn his head in that Enjolras person's direction and groaned when the headache hit him.

"Oh dear," Joly said. "You better try to rest a bit more. You're safe here. But before that you need to drink."

The mouth of a bottle was gently pressed against Marius lips and he drank as much as he could, darkness clouding his vision soon after.

 

When Marius awoke for the second time he could tell that it was late in the night and that he felt a lot better. Slowly and carefully sitting up he looked around. He seemed to be in some sort of camp, so it was likely that he had been found by a traveling colony. Or the nicest raiders he had ever heard of. There was a campfire in the middle, now reduced to red glowing ashes, two people sitting around it, their faces half in shadows. Marius could make out a few more people sleeping and around them all was a great variety of vehicles parked in a circle.

One of the two at the fire noticed his awakening.

"Oh hey there," he said in a hushed voice, presumably not to wake the others around them. He had soft curls and when he smiled the shadows on his face revealed two frankly adorable dimples. He turned to the other. "Told you he's not dead."

"Let him hang out here long enough he'll get there," The other said with a deep voice. From what Marius could tell he had quite some stubble on his cheeks and his hair was wild.

The man with the dimples gave his friend a soft shove with his shoulder. "Pay no attention to the cynic over there, he's just grumpy," he told Marius.

"And missing my booze," the other added.

"And missing his booze," the first solemnly agreed. Then he got up, approaching Marius and kneeling down next to him. "I'm Courfeyrac," he told him, still whispering and extending a hand that Marius took with a bit of hesitation. "Do you have a name?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Marius," Marius got out, his throat hurting a bit and his voice coming out hoarse.

"Hello, Marius," Courfeyrac said, smiling again. "Joly will be delighted to know you're awake. Come on, I'll help you up. There is water and some food at the fire. And Joly said it's important that you move to get your blood to circulate properly. He's our doctor." Courfeyrac had a pleasant voice, Marius decided, returning the smile despite himself. Courfeyrac pulled him to his feet slowly, then guided him to the fire where the other man who still hadn't introduced himself helped Marius to sit down again, handing him a bottle of water. Marius drank eagerly, the water stilling the burning in his throat a bit. And he still had sand in his teeth. He send the other man a questioning glance when he just went back to poking at the fire, leaving it to Courfeyrac to hand Marius a piece of bread.

"That's Grantaire, by the way," Courfeyrac told him as if he had read Marius' thoughts, while he was busy devouring the bread. Grantaire turned to Marius again, a grin revealing a line of crooked teeth and the dim light of the fire illuminating a probably broken nose.

Marius nodded. "It's very nice to meet you," he said, because it was the polite thing to do instead of saying 'this whole situation is scaring me immensely' and 'are you going to sell me to raiders?'. "Where am I? And who are you all?" he settled on instead.

Courfeyrac was the one to answer. "You're about twenty miles north from where we found you and we're the Amis, maybe you've heard about us?"

Marius eyes widened. He _had_ heard about the Amis, a traveling colony of skilled fighters, offering protection to whoever needed it. Some of the merchants in the town Marius had grown up in had told great tales about them and their fearless leader. He felt a bit safer now.

"Now, what about you?" Marius jumped a bit when Grantaire talked to him directly for the first time. "Who are you, where do you come from and where' you headed?"

"I'm- I'm from Bartertown. I don't really have a goal. I… I kinda ran away," Marius confessed. It wasn't the whole story but he was not willing to share more than this. At least for now.

"Not a very well-thought-out plan, given that you would pretty much be dead without us," Grantaire remarked, earning a stern look from Courfeyrac for it.

Marius looked at his hands, still holding the now almost empty bottle of water. "Yeah, I know," he said. "It was rather spontaneous."

"There, there." Courfeyrac was gently patting Marius shoulder. "We'll have to talk to the others first but we can get you somewhere for now, if you want to."

Marius head shot up. "Really?"

"I don't see why not," Courfeyrac said, smiling again. "We're a democracy here," Grantaire scoffed at that, but Courfeyrac ignored him. "so I can't make any decisions for the others, but helping you shouldn't be a problem. We're headed for Muffin Town and we could take you there safely."

"That would be amazing," Marius said. This was almost too good to be true.

Courfeyrac smiled again and Marius smiled back.

He sat with Grantaire and Courfeyrac for a bit until the latter ushered Marius back to the bedroll he had woken up in, telling him that he needed rest. Marius was out like a light seconds later, for the first time in a long while not dreading the next day.

 

The next day started with a truly unpleasant sound of a car horn and Marius immediately bolted into an upright position. He could still feel a slight headache pulsate behind his eyes but beside that he felt well-rested.

"Wakey-wakey, people," a truly enormous man shouted, pressing again the horn of what appeared to be a red painted bus. The sun was barely up and around Marius people started to get up. He recognized Courfeyrac not far from him, his hair a mess, blinking sleepily. His copper skin almost seemed to glow in the light of the rising sun.

"Hey there, Marius," the man honking called and Marius jumped. "Good to see you're better."

"He's awake?" A familiar voice asked. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything? How is your head?"

Marius turned and saw Joly detangling himself from two other people. Now, in the light of day, Marius could finally have a look at the Amis. Next to him a man with ginger hair and stubble, his skin covered in freckles like Marius himself had on his cheeks, was kicking off his blanket, warily eyeing Marius from the side. Grantaire was still asleep next to the man, completely unfazed by the noise around him, and all Marius was able to see were his black nest of hair and one brown, hairy arm.

"Don't overwhelm him, love," a woman said. The only woman as it seemed. She had long wavy hair, tied together in a loose braid and she was one of the two people Joly seemed to have shared a bed with. The other was a bald man, busy rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and then heaving the fairly tiny Joly into his lap, giving him a pat on the head.

"Let the kid wake up," he murmured.

"My head is better," Marius said, trying not to sound as intimidated as he felt. "Courfeyrac and Grantaire gave me water and food."

The latter let out an unwilling grunt at the mention of his name.

"That's good to hear," a new voice spoke up and when Marius turned he recognized the blonde hair and the piercing eyes. The man was already standing, his hands busy with tying up his curls into a loose pony tail. Next to him was another man getting to his feet. He had dark skin, dark hair and glasses, which surprised Marius, since they were on of the hardest luxury goods to acquire and not something you saw in a small colony like this one. On the other hand these were the Amis, the wild card of the wastelands, as a merchant had once called them.

"As you might expect we have a couple of questions for you, Marius," the blond man continued, approaching Marius with determent strife and Marius felt the ridiculous urge to hide under his blanket. The man stopped next to Grantaire's bed roll though, kicking him lightly with his foot without taking his eyes off of Marius. There was no reaction from the man at his feet. "But these are questions that can be answered while we pack. You can stand I presume?"

"Y-yes," Marius stuttered, shrinking under Enjolras' gaze.

Enjolras gave him a sharp nod at that. "Good, then I'm going to have to ask you to get up and start packing."

"Enjolras, he needs rest," Joly chimed in.

"I know, but we can't afford that," Enjolras said with finality, kicking Grantaire again, this time with more force and the man finally started moving to get up, not without a string of low grumbled curses.

Marius got to his feet slower than he would have liked. His knees felt weak but for the time being it would have to be enough. It took him twice the time than it took the people around him to pack up his bedding, when suddenly a wide grinning Courfeyrac popped into his vision, making Marius jump.

"First time?" Courfeyrac teased.

Marius frowned down onto the sloppy roll he had managed to tie the bed up to. He nodded.

"No problem," Courfeyrac said, taking it from Marius. "You'll get there in time. Come on, I'll show you where you will ride with us." And he led Marius into the red bus.

Some of the seats inside were broken, some covered in things that were neatly lashed down onto them and the last two rows were covered in plants. Marius had never seen this many different plants in one place and he tried not to stare but it seemed impossible. There were _flowers_ there. Real growing flowers. Marius wasn't even sure if he had ever seen a live growing flower in his life before.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" a new voice said.

When Marius turned his head he was faced with light brown eyes, almost golden, and a tanned face, framed by long auburn hair.

"I'm Jehan," the person said. "I'm the botanic."

"And I'm Gavroche," a cocky voice added and it took Marius a moment to realize that it had come from above him. He looked up to see an open hatchway in the roof of the bus and the mischievously smiling face of a child.

"I'm the boss around here," he told Marius, provoking a booming laugh from the big man that had been honking earlier. He had followed them inside, taking his place behind the steering wheel. Now that Marius had a better view of him, he noticed the absence of the big man's right arm. Instead he was pushing a few buttons with a dangerous looking prosthetic.

"Don't let Enjolras hear that," he said with a laugh and then flashed Marius a sharp grin over his shoulder. "I'm Bahorel, by the way, and I will be your driver today!" And he tipped his non-existent hat.

Gavroche huffed. "I'm not scared of Blondie! What's he gonna do? Shoot me?"

For some reason that seemed to be incredibly funny, since Courfeyrac and Jehan laughed along with Bahorel at that.

 

Enjolras joined them shortly after, letting Marius sit down and drink a bit more before he locked eyes with him staring Marius down for a few seconds.

"In the end where you're from and why you're here doesn't matter to us," Enjolras told him. "If you want to share your story you can, but that's not what I’m interested in. I need to know where you're headed."

It took Marius a moment to find his voice before he could answer. "I don't really have a set goal, I just want to get away from Bartertown," he said.

"Okay, that we can help you with. As long as you can pull your own weight you have our protection. Courfeyrac suggested taking you to Muffin Town and I agree. If you want to start a new life, there is no better place to go." He stilled for a moment before adding: "Cross us and it will be the last thing you attempt to do."

Marius had no idea what to say to that, he only stared back at Enjolras with wide eyes.

Enjolras soon followed Gavroche up to the roof after talking to Jehan about their water use for the plants for a bit. Marius curiously tried to see what was so special up there when the roar of a starting motorcycle ripped through the silence and Marius watched in awe as Enjolras jumped his motorcycle off the bus, landing on the cracked ground almost gracefully.

"We put yours up there too," Courfeyrac said next to him and only then Marius remembered that he had traveled into the wastelands on a motorcycle. To ask where it had gone hadn't even crossed his mind yet.

"Everyone ready?" Enjolras called over the noise of the vehicles being started around them. Sshouts of affirmation followed and Enjolras took the lead in driving off. Marius could only imagine what the Amis colony looked like while racing through the wastelands, but his heart beat faster at the thought.

 _I made it_ , he thought to himself. _For the moment I am safe._

He turned his head to see Courfeyrac smiling at him and to smile back was already more a reflex than a decision.

 

Jehan appeared next to them a few minutes later, a bit of wet dirt on their nose.

Marius would learn later that Jehan saw themselves as neither male nor female and Marius couldn't help but think that Jehan was kinda like the flowers they cared for so deeply - something unique and beautiful. Courfeyrac would let out a laugh when Marius would tell him about his thoughts, shaking his head.

"You're quite the romantic aren't you?" Courfeyrac would say. "Jehan is Jehan, just as I am Courfeyrac and Combeferre is Combeferre, there is nothing special about it. But it's cute that you think it is, I'm sure they would take it as a compliment."

And he would laugh again as Marius would feel himself blushing a bit.

But right now Jehan handed both of them some bread and something Marius could identify as an apple.

He stared at it maybe a bit too long because Jehan laughed. "You can eat it, it's a fruit."

"I- I know," Marius mumbled. "But is this really okay?"

"If you don't want it I'll eat it-," Courfeyrac started and made grabby hands at the apple. Marius immediately took a big bite out of it and shook his head violently. Jehan laughed again.

"It would be a shame to let what we grow here go to waste, wouldn't it?" Jehan pointed out. "You _are_ a part of the Amis now, at least for the moment, so obviously we're gonna share with you. How are you with weapons by the way?"

"Not that good probably," Marius confessed. "I'm half decent with a crossbow. I… I didn't get to fight much in Bartertown. Or train for that matter."

Courfeyrac nodded thoughtfully, chewing on his bread. "Grantaire could probably train you. He's an amazing shot."

"Where is he by the way?" Jehan asked and looked around as if they were expecting Grantaire to just magically pop up between their food supplies and their water tank.

"He's riding with Joly, Bossuet and 'Chetta," Courfeyrac answered.

Being around Courfeyrac and Jehan was nice. They both told funny and entertaining stories without Marius having to do or say much, taking no offense whenever he had to rest his eyes. Their voices were a melodic constant on the ride and when the sun started to set Marius actually felt like his old self again, excited to finally meet the Amis properly.

 

The ground was dry and hard, cracked open by the heat, when Marius stepped out of the bus. They had parked the cars in a protective circle again and Grantaire was already busy with stacking wood to light another fire. Where they had gotten enough of such a rare good as wood to be able to light a fire was a mystery to Marius, as were so many other things about the Amis. He let his eyes wander around for the first time now, taking in the cars they owned. There was of course Bahorel's bus, in which they carried most of their supplies, then there was a truck, a convertible tank with an intimidating ballista in the back, in which Marius recognized Joly and the two people he had shared his bed with and, next to them, a quad car that was overgrown by cacti, with the ginger standing next to it.

"Jehan, how the hell do you drive this thing?", he called, once he noticed them leaving the bus. "I got stung like eight times!"

Jehan laughed and started to head over to what was apparently their quod car. "I'm so sorry my lovelies," he said upon arrival. "Did you have a not so nice trip?"

The man made an offended noise. "Are you apologizing to the fucking cacti?!"

Jehan just ignored him, their fingers gently wandering over the plants.

Next to the convertible tank the woman was unfolding a wheelchair into which the bald man was lifting Joly, while Joly seemed to be fussing over a small cut on the man's head.

"Bossuet?" the man climbing out of the truck asked. "How on earth did you injure yourself? Again?" He sounded mildly amused and a bit worried.

"He knocked his head on one of the ballista' bolts," the woman answered, a light laugh in her voice.

Enjolras meanwhile had joined Grantaire at the camp side, looking over Grantaire's shoulder as he arranged the pieces of wood. Grantaire looked up at him with a frown. "If you don't trust me to build a decent fireplace you can do it yourself, chief, otherwise go and be useful. Isn't that what you always tell me?"

"That wasn't what-" Enjolras interrupted himself to make a frustrated noise. "Whatever," he snarled and strode off towards the man with the glasses, who just gave him a short pat on the shoulder and then redirected his attention towards Bossuet's head.

Bahorel heaved a long sigh behind Courfeyrac and Marius, causing the latter to jump a bit. "Well those two are off to a good start tonight," he mumbled under his breath.

"Are… are they okay?" Marius asked quietly.

"Yeah, yeah, pay them no mind. We've all seen worse, don't worry," Courfeyrac said with a wave of his hand, but he didn't seem happy about the situation either.

 

When the fire was burning they all gathered around it and Marius got a formal introduction. He learned that the woman's name was Musichetta, 'Chetta for short, that the guy with the glasses was called Combeferre and the man with the ginger hair was Feuilly, their mechanic. No one asked any questions other than Marius' name and his skills and Joly was delighted to hear that he was feeling better.

Now, with their combined attention on himself Marius took a deep breath to finally say what he should have said from the beginning. "I- I haven't had the chance to thank all of you yet. You saved my life, thank you."

Bahorel was the first to break the silence, with one of his booming laughs, soon joined by Bossuet and Grantaire. "Come on, Marius," Bahorel said. "Stop making this awkward and help me set up our cooking pot. I say we eat warm tonight."

Courfeyrac got up with him as Marius stumbled to his feet and gently knocked his shoulder against Marius'. "Don't let 'em tease you too much," he told Marius.

Marius followed Courfeyrac and Bahorel back into the bus, holding onto the rather heavy pot Bahorel thrust into his hands with no complaint, while Bahorel shouldered the frame to hold the pot over the fire as if it was nothing and Courfeyrac was busy picking out supplies for whatever they had decided to make.

"This bus is pretty amazing," Marius said, more to fill the silence than anything else.

"Yes, it's my pride," Bahorel said, eyes wandering over the shabby interior. "It used to be yellow, you know, but red just looks so much better."

"Yes, heavens forbid you could camouflage yourself with it in the desert," Courfeyrac said under his breath, with a fond eye-roll.

"Ha! Let them come if they dare! We'll be there!"

"Great rhyme, Jehan would be so proud."

With Bahorel still talking animatedly about his bus as they set up the cooking equipment over the now nicely burning fire, Marius was not even surprised when Jehan took his arm afterward and introduced him to all their cacti. Musichetta and Bossuet joined them shortly after, Musichetta dragging him to her convertible tank.

"She's my baby," she said with the same pride Bahorel had been talking about his bus. "Built half of her myself. You should ride with me some time, I'll show you how traveling through the wastelands should be."

"No," Joly called from behind them, sounding almost distressed. "I just nursed him back to health and now you want to kill him?"

"I am appalled you think that badly of me!" Musichetta said in a mock offended tone.

"Not you, just your driving!" Joly shot back and Musichetta gasped dramatically.

"No, seriously, you don't want to ride with 'Chetta. She drives like a madwoman," Bossuet said with a laugh, getting a light clap on his shoulder for that.

"And finally, this is Combeferre's truck," Jehan explained, leading Marius along. Stepping closer to the black truck Marius dared a quick look inside. While the front looked normal if maybe a bit dusty from the ride, the backseat was filled with neatly stacked books, fixed with ropes and straps.

"These are Combeferre's treasures," Jehan said, noticing Marius wonder.

Marius turned back to Combeferre, who he found looking their way, curious what Marius reaction was going to be. "Have you read them all?" Marius asked and Combeferre dropped his gaze.

"No," he said, sounding sad and a bit ashamed. It was a mystery to Marius why, since even having read just a few should have been an amazing accomplishment.

Jehan must have seen Marius confusion because they added: "No one of us can read."

Marius blinked. "I can read," Marius said. "I'm sure I could teach you."

 

Combeferre cried. Actual tears were coming out of his eyes while most of the Amis started asking questions all over each other.

"Guys!" Enjolras shouted with authority. "Settle down."

"Yes, don't overwhelm the poor guy," Courfeyrac said into the following silence. "We have hardly any light left and I'd rather use it to get this soup right. Help would be appreciated."

Work was picked up again, with Grantaire and Bahorel fetching enough water for the soup from their supplies in the bus, some other peeling potatoes and Joly cutting onions while trying not to cry.

"You could really teach me?" Combeferre asked, and he sounded so incredibly hopeful and delighted that Marius would have loved to put down the potato he was peeling and teach him right then and there. Instead he nodded. "I could teach all of you if you want. I'd be happy to repay you in any way I can," he said.

"Aw, I must say I like this one," Joly said, close to tears himself.

"Yes, lets keep him," Bossuet added with a laugh and a part of Marius wished he wasn't joking.

"We could stop a bit earlier tomorrow," Courfeyrac proposed, smiling at how excited Combeferre looked at that. "Then Marius would have time to prepare a lesson of some kind during the day." Courfeyrac locked eyes with Marius and Marius realized for the first time that they were green. "Does that sound good?"

"Sure," Marius said. He was sure he had seen a stone once with the color of Courfeyrac's eyes, somewhere in his grandfather's belongings.

When all the food was in the pot the Amis immediately went over to cleaning what was used for preparations as the appetizing smell of soup filled the air. The sun had fully set when they were done, Courfeyrac announcing that dinner would be served now. Marius wasn't sure if he had ever eaten something that tasted this good or if he had ever been in such good company for a meal. The Amis weren't a quiet bunch in the evening, they must had taken special precautions for Marius' first night when he had been mostly unconscious. Now they laughed, they told stories, they were happy. That surprised Marius the most, the positive atmosphere that seemed to surround them all. In a world where each day was crueler than the next they just sat down to sing a song, Grantaire making funny faces at Gavroche until there was soup coming out of his nose and they had taken Marius in as if it had been the most natural thing in the world.

They weren't ignoring the dangers of the wastelands though, Marius realized when he spotted Bahorel and Feuilly back to back on top of the bus, looking into the dark of the deserted land around them. The Amis simply refused to give in to the dark times that were reigning, with Joly laughing himself silly in Musichetta's lap about a joke Jehan told him, with Bossuet playing some form of card game with Gavroche and Grantaire, and with Bahorel apparently knitting while on post.

 

"Usually I drive a fuel tank," Courfeyrac told Marius as the evening progressed, the pot emptied and the bowls washed and returned to storage. "It's in Muffin Town right now, being filled with methane. Our next mission is getting that fuel to another colony out west-"

"Courfeyrac!" Enjolras voice was cold, cutting through the nice atmosphere of the evening and once again making Marius jump in his seat.

Courfeyrac blinked, turning towards their leader confused. "What?"

"I'm sorry to question your loyalty, Marius," Enjolras said with force, his brows drawn together and furry in his eyes. "but we don't know if we can trust you yet and until then mission details are off limits!" And he send Courfeyrac a pointed stare.

"Sure, chief. I'll keep it in mind," Courfeyrac said with a rueful smile, getting a sharp nod in return before Enjolras turned back to his conversation with Feuilly, whose post had been replaced by Musichetta a while ago.

"Sorry that you got in trouble," Marius mumbled.

Courfeyrac just laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry, Enjolras is not as hard as he pretends to be. He has helped everyone we've come across so far, but I think he is convinced he needs to be a hard-ass about it."

"Why?" Marius asked, his eyes on the back of Enjolras head, worried he might turn around again.

"Protection mostly." Courfeyrac shrugged. "A rep' like he has gets him the respect he needs to protect us and himself. He is actually a giant loser, but don't tell him I told you that."

"We don't actually need him to protect us either," Grantaire said suddenly appearing next to them. "But try telling our fearless leader that."

"Leave it to you to show up just as we are talking about Enjolras," Courfeyrac teased and Grantaire blushed. He grumbled something inaudible and turned towards the fire, letting Courfeyrac pat his shoulder a bit.

Combeferre called it a night soon after that. The Amis had a fixed watch guard duty schedule and Joly insisted that Marius not be added to it before tomorrow so he could fully recover even when Marius told him that he was feeling fine.

When most of them were sleeping around him Marius still couldn't find it in himself to fall asleep, the sudden change of his situation, even though it had been definitely to the better, keeping him awake with thoughts and memories about all the things that he was leaving behind and all the unknown things that were awaiting him down the road he had chosen.

"Courfeyrac?" he whispered into the darkness. "Are you awake?"

"Barely," Courfeyrac whispered back, his speech slow. "What is it, Marius?"

"Will you be riding in the bus with me again tomorrow?"

"Sure."

Marius found that sleep came to him a lot easier after that.

 

Marius spent the next day going through Combeferre's books, picking out the ones that were best suited for learning material. When he had enough for every Ami he drew up an alphabet on the first empty page to start with. Teaching the Amis how to read proved to be easier than Marius had thought, since they were all bright and eager to learn, and also harder than he had thought since some of them had the attention span of squirrels. On top of it came different speeds in learning, with Enjolras and Combeferre absorbing the letters and their meaning easily, in only a matter of days being able to read complicated structures and Bossuet and Grantaire being the slowest to learn, both even after three evenings still stuck on the alphabet. Bossuet took it with a shrug, saying that this was just his luck, but Grantaire seemed to get increasingly frustrated over the material. He didn't show it much, but Marius could see his frown as he was trying to mouth the words right. Feuilly seemed to learn best when he could teach himself, so Marius left him alone only helping when Feuilly came to him with a question. Bahorel and Gavroche worked best when they read to each other, soon doing voices along with the dialogue they were reading. Courfeyrac was more looking over Marius' shoulder than actually reading his own book, but Marius didn't find that he minded much. Joly was the most excited about writing, rather focusing on that and already starting a journal of his own, which was mostly puns and other jokes. Jehan seemed to enjoy intonation the most, sometimes reciting the same line multiple times out loud until they deemed it good enough. All in all they were probably better students than he had ever been, as Marius told them one evening, getting a few cheers and hug from Courfeyrac, who had happened to sit next to him.

Marius had hist first few watch guard shifts, learning that it was easier to stay awake if he walked around the camp a few times and not to stare into the fire for too long. One night he had the fortune of getting to know Feuilly a little bit better, who had kept to himself until now. Marius had spend most of the night listening to Feuilly talking about the maps he was drawing and his dream to some day have covered the whole wastelands and how now, thanks to Marius, he could write down the names of the places they had passed.

Enjolras still frightened Marius, but he was starting to see what Courfeyrac had meant when he witnessed Enjolras trying to beat Bahorel at their card game - that Marius still didn't knew the rules too - and saw their fearless leader being reduced to a pouting five year old.

And before Marius knew, the Amis had started to feel like home, something Marius hadn't felt in a long time and he almost dreaded the day they would arrive in Muffin Town and he would have to part with them again.

 

"Tell me about Muffin Town," Marius said to Bossuet one night, as they were trying to keep each other awake during watch duty.

"We're coming rather close aren't we?" Bossuet said with a grin.

Marius perked up at that, "We are?"

"Yeah, two days I think. Did no one tell you?"

Marius shook his head and he could see uncertainty cross Bossuet's face, probably wondering if he had blurted out something Marius had not been supposed to know. In truth Marius just hadn't asked, he didn't really want to hear the answer.

"It's a rather new city," Bossuet then said. "Nothing like Bartertown from what I've heard. Not really like any city I've ever seen, to be honest. You will like it there, it's safe and the people are as friendly as you can be in this godforsaken world of ours." He frowned. "Wow, I need to spend less time with Grantaire, I'm starting to sound like him," he added. "Anyway Muffin Town is great and as long as you don't anger the sheriff or the captain of the guard you should be fine."

"They're rather vengeful people then?" Marius asked.

"Javert is, in a way," Bossuet explained. "He's the sheriff and his task is keeping order within the city, which he takes maybe a bit too seriously. He's not a bad guy though, just stubborn and proud."

"And the captain of the guard?"

"You don't wanna anger Cosette because she's Cosette. She's too lovely. It's impossible not to like her. She sometimes joins us on our missions. Lethal with a javelin, that girl, and lovely," Bossuet grinned, obviously remembering something. "When Courfeyrac tried to flirt with her for the first time she almost decapitated him, it was glorious. Now that they're together she doesn't take swings at him anymore but, man, those were the days."

Marius tried to smile along with Bossuet but for the first time since he had met the Amis he had to force himself. He felt cold and even sitting closer to the fire didn't seem to change that.

The next day Marius took Musichetta up on her offer of riding with her. For the first time he was riding without Courfeyrac and Marius wasn't sure why he was so aware of that fact - only that he did not want to think about it further. Instead he tried to focus on properly applying the oily mud Joly had given him for his skin, as he was going to be in the sun all day.

They were still waiting for Enjolras to give the signal to leave and Marius had been seated in the front, next to Musichetta, for the 'full experience' as Grantaire had called it. Marius was not really worried since Joly and Bossuet seemed to be unbothered, kissing in the backseat. One day soon Marius should ask someone about the arrangement those three seemed to have or if there even was one. Working relationships weren't something very common and Marius couldn't deny a certain curiosity.

"Everyone ready?" Enjolras called and Musichetta's hand tightened on the steering wheel.

"So ready," she mumbled, a grin slowly stretching over her face. She started the car, letting the engine howl as an answer to Enjolras' call. Okay, maybe Marius was a little worried.

He soon realized that all friendly banter about Musichetta's driving had been a blatant understatement. Musichetta took every little hill with increasing speed, making the car jump further and further.

"You've got nothing to prove, love," Joly shouted over the wind howling around them as they passed Enjolras, who even had a little wave for them. This seemed to be normal.

"Witness me!" Musichetta yelled and increased her speed even more.

"We encountered war-boys once! _Once!_ Please finally let go of that horrid scream," Joly shouted, Musichetta laughed and Marius allowed himself to smile as well. The smile quickly dropped from his face when he noticed the rising dust on the horizon.

"What's that?", he asked over the noise of the wind, pointing in the direction of the dust clouds.

Musichetta squinted into the distance for a few seconds before her face turned serious. "Those," she said, slowing down a bit. "Are raiders."

 

Marius felt like for a second there was ice pulsing through his veins. "What do we do?" he asked, his voice high.

"We should warn the others," Joly reached into his clothes and pulled out something Marius recognized as a flare gun.

"They will know that we've seen them," Marius pointed out, fighting down the panic that was trying to close up his throat.

Bossuet shook his head. "They're not hiding themselves. They must assume that we have noticed them already, at this point it doesn't make a difference."

"And we need to get ready for their assault," Musichetta added as Joly fired the flare gun.

Enjolras was at their side immediately. "Will you take lead?" he shouted and Musichetta gave him a sharp nod as an answer.

"Marius, you take the ballista," she instructed as Enjolras was falling back again and with another cold rush Marius realized that they had all been too busy with teaching and learning to read, that no one had thought about making Marius familiar with their weapons. Marius climbed behind the ballista anyway. Over his shoulder he could see Courfeyrac climbing out of the bus, loosening up one of the motorcycles strapped to the roof and setting it upright. He surely wasn't going to-

Courfeyrac jumped and a horrified noise escaped Marius lips. He landed the motorcycle a bit sloppy but safely, falling in line with Enjolras. Marius had never seen Courfeyrac like this, his hair wild, his gaze cold and ready for war but still, it looked natural. There were a lot of sides he still didn't know about his new friends, he realized.

Grantaire appeared at one of the bus's windows now, carefully handing Courfeyrac and Enjolras a spear. Meanwhile Gavroche, a couple of spears tied to his back, climbed around on the bus like it was nothing, switching over to Combeferre's truck where he banged on the roof twice and was then let in. Marius watched as Grantaire was securing all the buses windows with metal plates, that Marius hadn't even realized were there, leaving only small spaces for Grantaire to shoot out.

"Oi, Marius. Move your foot," Bossuet called.

Marius immediately withdrew his foot from where he had rested it on the side of the car and Bossuet pulled out a spiked grating from a gap, Joly doing the same on the other side.

"There should be another behind you," Joly shouted over the wind. "Can you pull it out?"

Marius turned around again. He found the gap for it easily, but he had no idea how to even begin to pull it out. "What do I do?" Marius called.

"Just- Argh, god we should have explained this to you long ago! Fuck-" Joly's eyes were wide and there was almost panic in them.

"Focus, Joly!" Musichetta shouted over her shoulder, her eyes on the road.

Joly drew in a shaky breath. "Maybe I could just-"

"You know you can't stabilize yourself up there and Bossuet is a horrible shot! Marius is the only chance we got right now. He will have to manage." Musichetta didn't sound like she was about to give up so Marius tried to find some courage in that.

"You have to pull it but also push it away from you," Bossuet called. "Come on, Marius, you can do this!"

Marius tried but the framework was still stuck. He breathed in and out slowly, then pushed his fingers in deeper ignoring how some of the spikes dug into his flesh. The click wasn't audible but Marius could feel it and the pain in his hand was definitely worth the relief he felt when he pulled out the grating, feeling the second click as well, when the framework locked in its place.

"I did it," he cried sounding almost maniacal.

"Very good," Bossuet shouted while he took Marius abandoned seat next to Musichetta. "Now, a ballista is sort of like a giant crossbow. Make yourself familiar with the thing, if you have to, shoot once or twice, but try not to waste ammunition. Joly will hand you the bolts. We have maybe two minutes before they reach us."

 

The following two minutes felt like two years to Marius. His hands were shaking but he managed to keep the ballista steady. He missed his first shot at on of the closing in quad cars anyway.

Marius had never seen raiders in action before, only heard stories. His grandfather had shown him a dead raider once, when Marius had been ten. He had wanted to make clear what happened to people trying to cross him. In retrospective that should have been Marius' first clue to how cruel the man could be.

There were ten quad cars and three motorcycles approaching rapidly, most of them black just as the clothes of the people driving and rattling their weapons in anticipation. They didn't look that different from anyone else driving through the wastelands but the air around them seemed to boil and their foul smell carried with the wind towards Marius and the Amis.

There was no time to freeze up and with Joly patting his leg soothingly Marius managed to reload and shoot again, this time driving the bolt through the chest of the person driving the closest quad car. The raider next to them grabbed it and with a inaudible scream he sped up, rushing towards Musichetta's car. Musichetta reciprocated the scream with one of her own, tearing around her steering wheel and taking the collision course. One of the raiders riding a motorcycle went to intercept but was shot off before he could reach them. A quick glance back showed Marius Grantaire, leaning out of one of the bus's windows, an old shotgun at the ready.

Fractions of a second before the inevitable collision with the raider Musichetta yanked back her gear shift and with a jolt the tank's front was raised up and then plunged down onto the quad car. Musichetta laughed like the madwoman she most certainly was, stepped on the gas and drove over what was left of the quad.

While they had been first a few seconds ago, they now were the last in the line of vehicles still racing through the desert. Marius could see Enjolras, driving his spear through the face of another quad car driver, while Grantaire shot anyone trying to stop him, he saw Gavroche decapitating a raider who had managed to get on the roof of the bus with a bladed boomerang, Jehan and Combeferre trapping another quad car between them and Courfeyrac, fighting off the spear of another motorcycle raider.

Marius took aim and shot, the bolt ripping off the woman's arm just as she was about to throw her lance after Courfeyrac, drawing the attention back to himself. A crossbow bolt almost hit him as he reloaded and all Marius wanted to do was curl up and cry for help, but another look at Courfeyrac attacking two raiders that were trying to destroy the bus's wheels gave him the courage Marius never knew he had. He shot again, missing his target. The reloading went faster now and the next bolt he fired went straight through the man Marius had been aiming at. He screamed along with Musichetta, their wordless war-cry being all he could hear for a few seconds.

It took the raiders a few more losses before they gave up, letting them pass. Enjolras approached their tank again, informing them that there had been no casualties on their side and that they would have to take a detour to ensure not being followed. His voice and face seemed tense and there was a bit of blood on his cheek and neck. Not his own, as he reassured Joly.

When the raiders cars had finally disappeared at the horizon Marius climbed into the backseat again, shaking all over.

"You did an amazing job," Joly told him, patting his shoulder.

An hysterical laugh escaped Marius lips, infecting Bossuet and Joly. "I can not believe we're all still alive," Bossuet got out between waves of breathless laughter.

Neither could Marius.

 

The sun had already set when they finally stopped, Bahorel producing two oil lamps out of the depths of his bus. They hung them up in it, Joly insisting on looking over everyone's wounds before they could go to sleep. Courfeyrac had a bruised wrist, the cuts in Marius' fingers weren't deep but they needed to be cleaned out, Feuilly had a some bruised ribs and a light wound on his head, but the worst was Grantaire. He had a deep cut on the side of his right shoulder where a raider's lance had got him. Combeferre had already cleaned and closed the wound while they had been driving but Joly fussed over it nonetheless, changing Grantaire's bandages and hitting him over the head when he proclaimed that it was just a scratch.

They slept only a couple of hours that night, immediately taking off again as the sun was just rising. Marius ended up in the bus again together with Grantaire, who had been instructed to stay still and go easy on his arm, Joly, who had wanted to stay with his patient, Bahorel, who was of course driving the bus, and Courfeyrac, who was needlessly fussing over Marius' hands while his own wrist must hurt like hell.

"We need to stop early enough today so Marius can practice shooting," Joly said around noon, Grantaire snoring next to him. "We need to make sure that we're all prepared for the next attack."

"You think they'll come back?" Marius asked.

Courfeyrac nodded. "It's not unlikely that they went back to regroup, get reinforcements even."

"And should that be the case we need to be ready," Joly added. "If we're lucky we're gonna lose them, but we shouldn't count on it."

 

Because of the detour they had had to take, their arrival in Muffin Town had been delayed for another week. Though Marius dreaded the circumstances he couldn't deny a certain happiness on being allowed to stay with the Amis a bit longer.

The next evening they stopped early next to a cliff, providing them with a wide view over the wastelands. While Courfeyrac had taken over the task of making sure that everyone ate and Bahorel, Feuilly and Musichetta were busy with repairs, Marius once again felt a bit useless in the busy surrounding him, when Grantaire approached him. His arm was in a sling and he was walking carefully, not with his usual slouch.

"Hey kiddo, come with me," he said, already turning to lead Marius away.

Marius followed Grantaire to a few larger stones on which someone had placed a few smaller ones as targets, for proper contrast covered in the same oily mud the Amis used against the sun. Waiting for them there was Gavroche, holding a crossbow. There was a bit of mud in his dark blonde hair and he grinned sharply at Marius.

"Think fast, Marius," he called and tossed him the crossbow. It was a miracle that Marius didn't drop it, but he was still not proud of the surprised squeak he made. Gavroche's grin widened.

"Okay, let's see what you can do while we still have light," Grantaire instructed.

Marius nodded. He loaded the weapon, took aim and shot, successfully knocking one of the targets off its stone.

"Very good," Grantaire said, handing him another bolt. "Now do it at twice the speed."

Training was hard but in a weird sense fulfilling. Grantaire was a good teacher even if most of his humor was going over Marius' head. He even found the time to help Marius practice his aim at the ballista a bit before it got too dark and Marius had to collect all the bolts he shot.

Marius spend the next day climbing the bus and under Gavroche's careful instructions he managed the jump from there to Combeferre's truck and back. Courfeyrac gave him a warm hug for his accomplishments.

 

It was soon becoming clear that they had successfully lost the raiders and it lifted a weight from Marius' heart. They celebrated by having their second warm meal since Marius' arrival, when Enjolras sat down next to Marius, making him freeze up for a second. Marius had chosen a slightly farther off seat this time, content with watching the people he had started to call friends in his mind.

"We will reach Muffin Town tomorrow around noon," Enjolras said without a greeting.

Marius blinked. Had time really passed this fast?

"You don't look happy," Enjolras observed, seizing Marius with his eyes. After spending almost two weeks with them all Marius was a lot less uncomfortable with Enjolras, but his stomach still dropped a bit whenever Enjolras fixed him with his gaze.

"I- no," Marius stuttered. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to seem ungrateful, I-"

"Marius," Enjolras interrupted and Marius immediately shut his mouth. "What do you think we're doing here?"

"I- I'm not sure I understand the question…"

Enjolras huffed. "The training, Marius."

"You're preparing me to fight and I could not be more thankful-"

"You're wrong," Enjolras interrupted again, but this time he didn't sound as impatient. "We're preparing you to fight _with us_."

_Oh._

"Oh," Marius said and for the first time he saw Enjolras smile.

"We're gonna be in Muffin Town for two days, if you want to leave with us again you can." Enjolras stood up again, brushing the dirt from his black trousers, his face hard and unreadable again. "You and Courfeyrac have first guard duty. Good night, Marius."

 

The fire wasn't more than glimmering ashes, the low glow leaving half of Courfeyrac's face in shadow, as they sat in comfortable silence. The image reminded Marius of the first night he woke up and he smiled a bit to himself.

"Enjolras said I could stay with you," Marius whispered, a bit maybe to make it real, his smile grew as Courfeyrac's head shot up his dimples deep and his grin wide.

"That's amazing," Courfeyrac replied, managing to sound extremely excited despite their low volume. Marius thought about telling him, that he was already sure he was going to take Enjolras up on his offer, but then Courfeyrac wrapped his arms around Marius and didn't let go.

"You should definitely stay," Courfeyrac whispered into his ear and Marius could feel the heat creeping up into his neck and cheeks. He didn't have it in him to push Courfeyrac away, not that he really wanted to anyway, so he just hugged him back. Courfeyrac let out a pleased hum that vibrated through his chest and Marius never wanted to let go of Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac, who had a girlfriend named Cosette back in Muffin Town.

"I really want to," Marius settled on and let Courfeyrac hold him.

After their shift ended and Feuilly and Combeferre took over, Marius laid awake for a long time trying make his brain quiet down and failing miserably.

 

Muffin Town was tiny in comparison to Bartertown. It was build next to a small hill, that had been hollowed out and made part of the town, mostly build out of wood and a few metal plates here and there were roughly a hundred people living there, from what Marius could tell. The old guardsman who had let them inside greeted the Amis enthusiastically, even sparing a toothless smile for Marius.

"You guys are back," called a delighted female voice from behind Marius and he twirled around. Right in front of him stood an angel. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back, her full pink lips a striking contrast to the grey of her left eye – the other was covered by a patch. She was beautiful. Marius was pretty sure he wasn't breathing.

"Hi," the angel said, her gaze fixed on Marius.

"Hi," Marius replied not even embarrassed at how breathless he sounded.

"Cosette," Courfeyrac exclaimed behind him and Marius heart sunk in his chest.

But instead of shoving Marius aside and showering this beautiful woman in kisses, Courfeyrac put an arm around Marius' shoulders and smiled at her.

"This is Marius," he said. "We found him and we're keeping him."

"Hello, Marius," Cosette said, with a smile. Her inquisitive look had never left Marius.

"Hello, Cosette," Marius said and someone made a retching sound behind them. Marius' money was on Gavroche. "It's so very nice to meet you."

Her smile widened and Marius could have sworn that she was glowing. He looked at Courfeyrac, who was looking at him with the same radiant smile.

"Very nice to meet you, too," Cosette said and Marius knew that he was fucked.

“Likewise,” he managed as he felt the heat rising in his cheeks.

 

Cosette and Courfeyrac could not have been more perfect for each other, both gentle in nature but fierce at heart. Neither of them left Marius' side much during his tour through the town while Enjolras and a few others went off to see the mayor of Muffin Town. Courfeyrac insisted on dragging Marius along to see Courfeyrac's fuel tank, excitedly telling the story of how he once had played decoy with it, successfully fighting off five other cars by himself.

“She is my everything,” he proclaimed and Cosette coughed. “You too, obviously,” Courfeyrac added with a laugh patting both her and Marius' shoulder.

“You _have_ to ride with me sometime,” Courfeyrac told Marius as they were standing in front of the tank.

“Sure,” Marius said unable to hold back his smile at Courfeyrac's enthusiasm. Cosette seemed to be in the same predicament.

“Where are you from?” she asked him, her fond gaze on Courfeyrac, who was now talking to one of the people busy filling the tank.

“Bartertown,” Marius answered and Cosette turned her head towards him, surprised. He could feel himself blush under her gaze.

“Both my fathers are from there as well.” She hesitated for a second. “They don't speak highly of it.”

“It's not really a place to be spoken highly of,” Marius said.

She nodded, looking ahead again. Her hand found Marius' easily, giving it a soft squeeze.

Marius squeezed back, his face probably the color of Bahorel's bus by now. She didn't let go and so neither did Marius.

“Maybe I should come with you on your next mission,” Cosette said after a few beats. “I was thinking about it anyway.”

Marius gave her hand another squeeze. “You definitely should.”

 

They had parked their cars within the city in an empty spot close to the entrance where they all met up again in the evening. Bahorel lighted a fire, a few of the town's people joining them as Courfeyrac cooked. Stories were being told, Jehan reciting the epic tale of how they fought of the raiders with Marius embarrassedly looking down on his hands whenever he was praised. Joly was draped over both Musichetta and Bossuet's lap, slowly writing in his journal, with Musichetta looking over his shoulder.

“Those three,” Marius said in a low voice, turning to Courfeyrac, who was sitting beside him, “they're together right?”

Courfeyrac nodded. “Yeah, been since we've met them. I think that was about five or six years ago.”

“That's so amazing,” Marius said in awe.

“It really is,” Cosette agreed. Her head was pillowed in Courfeyrac's lap and she was lazily smiling up at Marius.

“We all found a home and a family in each other and that is the most important thing, but being together like this,” Courfeyrac added. “It's nice.”

Marius made an agreeing hum. “They look so... complete together.”

“They do,” Cosette said and closed her eyes again.

“So do we,” Courfeyrac said with a laugh, freezing for a second when he realized what he had just blurred out. “Or at least so could we,” he corrected, not meeting Marius' eyes.

Marius had no experience whatsoever in relationships or falling in love and he was really not sure if he was reading this right at all, but with both these amazing people so close to him, he felt like it was gonna be alright. So he carefully took Courfeyrac's hand into his own, smiling down at Cosette.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “So could we.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> ... to maybe be continued one day im not sure yet  
>  the idea of this AU has been ghosting around in my head for a while and now here it is what do you think?
> 
> Based off of [this AU post](http://they-hear-the-music.tumblr.com/post/121285594004)   
> If you wanna see what Cosette looks like my friend (who annoyed to bits with this) [drew her](http://oh-boromir.tumblr.com/post/126500932171/they-hear-the-music-guess-who-knitted-cosettes)
> 
> A fucking billion thanks go out to my [beta](http://thesewersofparis.tumblr.com) without her this would have been not even half as good  
> I'm here on [tumblr](http://they-hear-the-music.tumblr.com) come and say hi :>


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